It’s a New Year. Dare to dream. Dare to fail. Dare to be a success.

I love the New Year. It’s a time to say good bye to the past, reflect on the lessons we learned, enjoy the victories we accomplished and happily greet the New Year and all its potential.

I’m often asked what resolutions I have made for myself and the answer is the same every year. None.

I don’t believe in resolutions. I think people start off with great intent only to be really disappointed when they fail. People often pick a resolution that has to do with modifying a bad habit or some other negative aspect about their life. Maybe they want to work out more but hate the gym. Maybe weight loss is a goal but they hate dieting. Or maybe they want to spend more time with family but giving up precious free time has just been too hard or just plain inconvenient.

I’m a very positive person. I’m someone who dreams big and works hard to achieve everything I feel like I can and I should. So the thought of starting off a new year, a clean slate if you will, with resolutions that force us to do something we haven’t wanted to do or have dreaded doing the entire year before makes no sense. If we’re starting out “a new”, why not begin with positive aspirations? Dreams that you want to work towards, not resolutions that you dread working at.

Take a second and humor me. Sit quietly with eyes closed and dare to dream a big dream. It may be as simple as a goal for work or maybe it’s as big as a life changing plan. Visualize yourself where you want to be, doing what you want to be doing. Feel the excitement build as you see your life movie in your mind’s eye. See the faces of those who are a part of your grand plan. If it’s a new product you’re developing, “hold” that product in your hand. Really imagine what the labeling will look like. Picture it on a store shelf or on your website. Make this imagery as real as you can.

Open your eyes. Remember how you felt. Now take a journal, electronic tablet, a napkin. Whatever you have handy and start to write down how this dream of yours will begin to take shape. Keep this journal with you at all times. New ideas come at some of the most inconvenient times and you want to write everything down as soon as you think of it or you risk losing that brilliant thought forever.

Make your dream the last thing you think of as you drift off to sleep and the first thing you think about when you wake. Don’t pressure yourself with arbitrary time lines. Dreams will take the time they’re supposed to take.

You may find that you might have to take an unwanted break from your dream as life has a way of taking over sometimes. That’s okay. Remember each and every day will find you one step closer to achieving this goal. Enjoy the ride as you travel towards completion. Don’t beat yourself up if it doesn’t come together right away. Your biggest task is simply to believe in yourself and your dream.

Mistakes will happen. Failures and missteps will as well. Embrace them for what they are – lessons learned and just a part of the journey towards the end result. You’ll never be able to really dream if you are afraid to fail. Everyone fails at some point in their lives. It’s the dreamers who have the ability to pick themselves up and move on who succeed.

My wish for you as we enter this beautiful New Year is a fantastic dream, one that’s your own and the patience needed, the willingness to stumble and fall and the ability to find the grit needed to make this a dream a reality for you and your loved ones in 2015. Peace. T~